Present:

1. Apologies for Absence

None.

2. Confirmation of the Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 12th August 2019

The minutes of the meeting of 12th August 2019 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.

3. To Report on the Actioning of Items from Previous Meetings

• 19-3Ⓐ1 MH to return £5 of annual sub to player who has just joined. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
• 19-3Ⓐ2 Rogue handset J, which has caused too many scoring problems, will be written off. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
• 19-3Ⓐ3 GW to update the Club's website that Claygate is now a Level 3 club. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
• 19-3Ⓐ4 GW to advertise on the Club website any director training sessions planned by the EBU. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
• 19-3Ⓐ5 GW to order more table slips. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
• 19-3Ⓐ6 KW to check the club's stationery stocks of Travellers. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ
• 19-3Ⓐ7 GW to investigate whether a more powerful WiFi router could help the Club. ⓓⓞⓝⓔ

4. Chairman's Report

GW expressed his view that the Club seemed in better shape, now that the scoring handsets were working reliably, and a number of established players have joined. However the Club still has a critical shortage of scorers and directors.

After keeping away for two years, KW and GW decided for the first time to attend the SCBA Chairman's Consultation Lunch earlier this month. In GW's personal view, largely formed at the time of the Club's greatest need four years ago, the SCBA continues to provide almost nothing of value to our Club. Two sentences have been removed from this published version at the request of the SCBA Development Officer and Chairman. However because these sentences are pertinent to the competitive position of Claygate Club in the bridge-on-Monday-evenings market, the signed version kept in the chairman's file will retain the original script, for the benefit of the next Claygate chairman. We probably will not go to this annual event again.

5. Treasurer's Report

MH reported that all is well.

6. Electronic Scoring — Progress Report

At last, everything seems to be working reliably. Fundamental to this turnaround were the decisions to spend £40 on a new WiFi modem and to standardise on Amazon Fire 7 tablets for the handsets. Although there can be quite a race to get all the handsets started up before each session, the role of the scorer is now less stressful than it has been. GW would like to express his appreciation to Carol Wildig for her forbearance during the very difficult phase. We continue to use Amazon Black Friday sales gradually to replace the Acer handsets.

7. Xmas Party 16th December

The Committee agreed that the format should be the same as in previous years: members only, free to members, starting at 1900, followed by normal bridge.

• 19-4Ⓐ1 KW & GW to buy 6x prosecci, 6x white, 6x red from Majestic.
• 19-4Ⓐ2 MH & YB to buy the party food.
• 19-4Ⓐ3 GW to seek permission of Day Centre manager for 1800 opening for party team.
• 19-4Ⓐ4 GW to announce Xmas Party on website.
• 19-4Ⓐ5 GW to circulate clipboard at next two sessions to gauge likely attendance.

8. 2020 Planning

The 2020 AGM will be held on 9th March. This will be another freebie for attendees. To ensure a brisk AGM, the Committee rejected the idea of providing wine on the evening. All members of the committee said they were happy to stand for re-election.

• 19-4Ⓐ6 GW to ask the members again whether the Club should do Teams/Sims/Gender-separate contests.

9. Recruiting More Directors

With the likely departure of Julie Gardiner, the need for another director is even more pressing.

10. Recruiting More Scorers

It is hoped that the scoring job will now be more attractive, given the reliability of the set-up. (If you can download a file from an email, move it to another Windows folder, and work with the Director to establish the right movement, you should be fine!)

11. Any Other Business

The Committee approved the loan of the Club's kit to support a one-off charity event at Claygate Tennis Club in 2020.

12. Date of Next Meeting

The committee agreed at the meeting that the next committee meeting would be held at 1400 hours on Wednesday 12th February 2020 at Torrington Close. However owing to a diary clash, this was subsequently changed to 1400 hours on Wednesday 19th February 2020 at Torrington Close, and agreed by email.